Out-of-wedlock births show huge east-west German divide

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germany remains firmly divided over family matters. According to a new study, dramatically more children are born out of wedlock in the formerly communist eastern half of the country.

The Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig reported this week that the number of "illegitimate" children in eastern Germany averages 57 percent compared to only 25 percent in the west.

In parts of the southern German states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg - known as Catholic strongholds - only 15 percent of children were born outside of marriage. But in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, some regions showed a whopping 70 percent of births outside of wedlock.

159 words remaining. Click to read the [thelocal="http://www.thelocal.de/22767/">full article[/thelocal].

Note: Comments posted below will also be published on The Local.

what is this crap? "Illegitimate" children? Are we still tying their left hands behind their backs and drowning the smaller ones? Haven't we moved past giving a flying f**k about that sort of thing?

If a kid has loving, nurturing parents he is blessed indeed--whether his parents are married or not.

What's wrong with using the proper word, "bastards"? Both my boys are bastards, and I'm proud of it.

I was quoting the article.

So was I

Why does Germany still insist on staying stuck in the 19th century? Where I come from (New Zealand), we got rid of illegitimacy in law over 30 years ago.
It's about time they did the same thing here. Quite apart from anything else, it's discriminatory.
Now: about not being able to use credit cards more widely...

Like father, like son eh?

Here is the article from the IfL website: Click.

Please note that the article refers to the kids being born 'außerehelich' or 'nichtehelich'. This is not the same as 'illegitimate'. It simply means extramarital and it does not carry the same negative connotation as 'illegitimate'. It is only the article by The Local using this word. So if anyone hasn't moved past this word and its meaning, it's The Local.

So basically we are saying that its easier to shag an East German and get her pregnant than a West German or what?

Sheesh. Have none of you people heard of scare quotes? The Local put illegitimate in quotation marks exactly to show how silly that term is:
Main Entry: scare quotes
Function: noun plural
Date: 1960
: quotation marks used to express especially skepticism or derision concerning the use of the enclosed word or phrase

I was going to ask those getting their knickers in a twist what word they would have preferred but realise that the answer would be some trite cobblers about how "back home" it wouldn't even be reported on so question wouldn't even arise.

Oh and if any one uses the term "love child" I may just have to hunt them down and get all medieval on them

Probably, though I doubt that other countries don't do statistics like this considering there are statistics and surveys for just about everything.

They just got more time to "fool around" in the east ! And because of 40 years of atheism under the commies the population there has a more relaxed attitude towards marriage than the conservative cristian people of southern germany.
And as I've been told from several secure sources, the eastern girl are far too easier to lay than the western ones.
Promiscuity has been a national sport in the east as it seems, the statistics speak for themselves as it shows here !